All Chapters of Divorce Clause: Heir Included: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

The heavy iron door groaned, a sound that usually signaled the end of the day. For Zack, it was just another cue for the internal rot to deepen. He sat on the cold granite floor of the Havenfall estate’s basement, his back against the weeping stone.Eight years.He hadn't seen the sun in nearly three thousand days. Logan—the man he once called father—didn't believe in mercy, only in chemical chains.The latch clicked. Logan stepped into the room, the scent of expensive bourbon and stale cigar smoke hitting Zack before the light did. In his hand was a silver flask. No, not a flask. A vial. The nightly dose of the neurotoxin that kept Zack’s body weak and his mind fractured."Drink," Logan commanded. His voice was a gravelly rasp.Zack didn't move. His muscles were lead. "Why?"Logan lunged, his hand snapping around Zack’s throat, slamming his head back against the wall. Dust puffed from the stone. Zack’s vision blurred into a smear of grey and black."Because you're a loose end, Zackar

Rain slashed through the Havenfall streets, a freezing grey curtain that blurred the neon signs of the Red Light District. Zack ran. His bare feet slapped the wet asphalt, every impact sending a jolt of pain up his shins. The iron-heavy scent of the city—grease, exhaust, and ancient rot—clogged his throat.He needed to vanish. Somewhere the concrete didn't have eyes.The park. A thick, neglected stretch of old-growth timber bordering the warehouse district.Zack lunged into the treeline, thorns tearing at his shins. He didn't stop until the city lights were swallowed by the dense canopy of silver firs. His lungs burned, a fire that matched the raw, weeping gashes on his back where Logan’s belt had found purchase.He looked up. The branches offered the only sanctuary he’d ever known. He climbed, his fingers slipping on the mossy bark, nails breaking as he hauled his emaciated frame into the high dark. He curled into a notch fifty feet up, the rough bark scraping his raw skin. Exhaustio

"You want me to marry him?" Zack’s voice cracked, the sound like dry leaves skittering across the floor. He edged toward the door of the penthouse suite, his one good eye tracking Julian Wright.Julian didn’t move, but the sheer weight of his presence acted like a physical barrier. "You need the Durand name, Zack. Not just for a title. For your skin. Without it, you’re just a loose end waiting for Ethan Cole to tie a noose around. You’ve spent a decade in a hole. You have no money, no allies, no clue how this city breathes."Julian took a step forward, his expensive shoes silent on the rug. "You went to Nathan in those woods because you knew he was the only thing stronger than the man who broke you. You trust him. Even if you’re too scared to admit it."Zack looked at his hands. They were shaking. He thought of Nathan—the way the man had looked at him in the car, like he was something precious and volatile. "Does he even want this?""He knows the stakes," Julian said simply.If someon

Zack’s hand shook as he hit the ‘end call’ button. The high, jagged laugh of Madeline Winters still echoed in the silent bedroom, a sharp contrast to the low, rumbling hum of Nathan’s voice in the background."Bella, would you behave for once?" Nathan’s voice, rough and familiar, had sliced through the speaker."Only if you make me," she’d purred. Then, the wet, unmistakable sound of a kiss.Zack doubled over, his stomach rolling. It was their three-year anniversary. He was supposed to be celebrating. He was supposed to tell Nathan about the heartbeat he’d seen on the ultrasound. Instead, he was listening to his husband trade spit with the woman he was "supposed" to marry before the Durand family needed Zack’s bloodline to solidify a treaty.The rejection was coming in ten days. Zack knew the contract. He knew Nathan had sacrificed three years of his life playing bodyguard and husband to a broken ghost from a basement.He doesn't owe you anything, Zack reminded himself, his fingers di

"Spit it out, Madeline. What kind of game is Julian playing?"Zack leaned back in the vinyl booth of the cafe, his mismatched eyes—one sapphire, one violet—fixed on the woman across from him. Madeline Winters didn't look like a mobster’s daughter today. She looked like a widow in white, her fingers trembling as she gripped a porcelain cup."Julian Wright isn't the savior you think he is, Zack," Madeline whispered. Her voice was thin, reedy, like wind through a graveyard. "You’ve been in that penthouse for three years. I’ve known that man since I was in diapers. The Julian the world sees and the man who runs the Cocolink syndicate are two different monsters."She took a jagged swallow of coffee, the liquid sloshing over the rim."He killed his own brother to take the throne. You think he'd hesitate to pave the road with your bones if it got him what he wanted?"Zack’s jaw tightened. "His brother was a rat. He tried to sell the syndicate to Ethan Cole. Julian did what he had to for the